Life has become something of a new adventure since Caleb arrived. I’m not sure if it’s what I expected or not, but it’s certainly a Caleb-centric existance and has been for the better part of 8 months. We try to get everything peripheral done during naptimes, go to events as long as we’re home in time for his bedtime, and we rise at the crack of “Waaaaaaaaaaa” every morning. Caleb runs the show!
It is through marriage first, and then fatherhood that I have come to understand the temptations and tribulations that come within these bonds. The apostle Paul speaks of the fact that within marriage, one’s interests are divided. At once, you are committed to the Lord’s affairs, and yet in another moment committed about how one might please his wife. The core principles within these verses is not to restrict or bring a bitter taste to marriage. It is written so that we might live a life in undivided devotion to the Lord, whether we are alone or together.
It is not mere coincidence that the verses prior to the ones about marriage speak of the truth that this world in it’s present form is indeed passing away. I cannot fathom or properly comprehend this, though I know that it is true, and I know that my passionate love and bonds with Bri and Caleb will change when this world does pass away, and that God shall be glorified in the redemption of his own.
It is easy to consume my mind with the passing world, living each and every day in order to please Bri or Caleb and losing site of an undivided devotion to the Lord, as a family. Rather than looking inward as though our family was huddled, looking only into each others faces, we must turn and hold hands and walk together in devotion to the Lord.
This is not very easy in waterfalls of spitup or hills of blocks and toys. Yet I know the greatest love and devotion I can show to my wife and my son is by lifting them up in the things that are not temporary, but the things that last when our time here has gone.
This weekend, our archaic AC unit finally kicked the bucket. Instead of suffering in the heat while the new unit was being installed, Andy’s parents were kind enough to let everyone (including Toby) to stay at their house. It was quite the circus. Andy captured this video while we were there. I’m debating whether we should submit it to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Watch the whole thing. The end is the real kicker.
Today, Caleb turns 8 months old. This past month, Andy had the opportunity to work from home and has gotten to watch Caleb accomplish some amazing things. Right at 7 months, Caleb graduated from the army crawl to real crawling. Now, he’s able to pull up on low objects (usually Mommy). He is also saying “Dada” quite regularly although I doubt he knows the meaning. He understands several words including “Mama”, “Dada”, “book”, “Toby”, “duckie” and sometimes “no”. His love for books has grown tremendously. Reading time now involves a mountain of books in one sitting. He now officially has three teeth. One top tooth has cut through and the other one will make it’s debut shortly. We are slowly introducing small finger foods into his diet. Now that he knows he can eat intact foods, I usually have to share whatever I’m eating. His current favorites are mangos and cantaloupe.
His naps have mostly stabilized into two good naps a day. I am SO happy that his naps are predictable. It really helps us structure our day and he now has no problems going to sleep because it’s all part of our routine. For naps, I just walk him around to music and it only takes about 3-5 minutes for him to fall asleep. Bedtime is the same. After bath, I rock and feed him and he’s out like a light in a few minutes.
Here’s a video I took this morning of his new vocabulary. He was in a VERY talkative mood today.
Yesterday for photography practice, I took my camera everywhere with me and attempted to capture Caleb’s everyday activities. It was quite challenging having to take routine occurrences and create photographs out of them instead of snapshots. Here are a few from yesterday:
… or should I say this morning at 4am. He’s cutting a top tooth which has turned him into a baby insomniac. For the past few weeks, he’s been giving high fives regularly so we’ve been showing him how to clap for the past few days. Then, this morning I heard him playing around with his hands and he suddenly began clapping. In all of my excitement, I rolled over and went back to sleep. Once it was REALLY morning, I asked him to clap for me. He did it!
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